1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to merchandise dispensing machines such as soda, coffee, cigarette and candy machines, and more particularly to a dispending machine for retail venues where large-scale theft of merchandises displayed on open shelves is problematic.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
The references to Hardy, et al described below present a well rounded background of the subject matter of the present invention and of the serious need, that is, the motivation to establish an advanced merchandise product dispenser for retail stores. Product dispensing machines, i.e., vending machines, are very well known and up until the present have been designed for storing products of all kinds and for dispensing such products to consumers in exchange for currency without vendor attention. Vending machines are essentially vaults which store inserted currency and products for sale. As such they are expensive to provide and to operate and are not easy to use for all types of products. Recently, retail stores that traditionally display products on open shelves have experienced product theft by “sweeping,” a technique used by thieves wherein products for sale that are displayed on open shelves are swept, using an arm motion moving over the shelf to push a large quantity of product into waiting bags. Often these products do not have significant value, but will provide income to the thief upon resale in a gray or black market. A new generation of merchandise dispensing machines, represented by the following prior art has been developed to specifically deal with the theft of items which are displayed on open shelves. Such machines dispense products in a similar manner as coin operated vending machines, but without the need for the consumer to place currency in the machine to operate it. Its primary purpose is to thwart theft.
Hardy, et al., U.S. 2005/0161420, discloses a system for managing and securing product and deterring theft in a retail setting that includes a system that resides either on a standard retailer shelf or may be a stand-alone system. In an embodiment, the system includes a plurality of shelves and product dividers positioned between the shelves and extending from the front edges of the shelves toward the rear of the shelves. Front retaining walls are positioned at the front edges of the shelves and are configured to have a height that inhibits access to products on the shelves. Individual retaining tabs of varying height may be added in front of rows of taller product to inhibit access to these products. In an embodiment, rigid or moveable barriers may be positioned above retaining walls that further restrict access to the products. With the invention, the “sweeping” of numerous products by a thief is deterred. In another embodiment, an alert device may be configured to detect and monitor movement of the moveable barriers and may provide an alert signal corresponding to the management of product on the shelf or corresponding to a potential theft situation. In an embodiment, the alert device may communicate with a security camera to monitor the vicinity and provide a notification to the potential thief that his actions are being monitored and recorded, or provide a notification to store computer, pager, cellular telephone, or the like.
Hardy, et al., U.S. 2006/0240398, discloses a system for managing and securing product and deterring theft in a retail setting that resides either on a standard retailer shelf or may be a stand-alone system. The system includes shelves, product dividers and front retaining walls of a height and position to inhibit access to displayed products. Individual taller retaining tabs may be added in front of taller product to inhibit access. Rigid or moveable barriers may be positioned above retaining walls to further restrict access. With the invention, the “sweeping” of numerous products by a thief is deterred. An alert device may be configured to detect and monitor movement of the moveable barriers and to provide an alert signal corresponding to the management of product or to a potential theft situation. The alert device may communicate with a security camera to monitor the vicinity and provide a notification to store computer, pager, cellular telephone, or the like.
Mason, U.S. 2007/0080123, discloses a shelf unit for displaying products in a space saving manner that includes brackets for securing to a support and a tray extending between the brackets. The tray has a front portion with edges arranged so that adjacent edges are disposed at alternating angles to form a sawtooth pattern. A face portion configured to conform to the front portion is disposed over the front portion and has a window for viewing a product disposed behind the window. Adjustable partitions are disposed on the tray and define rows for displaying the products. A biasing mechanism biases the products in the row toward a front of the shelf unit. Each biasing mechanisms has a biasing element and a slidable product advancing member. The products are arranged in adjacent rows at alternating angles to form a sawtooth pattern corresponding to the edges of the front portion of the tray.
Breslow, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,201, discloses a shelf divider system comprising a divider wall mountable in a channel member secured to the front of a shelf. A spring-urged pusher member is slidably mounted on a track having a pair of rails integral with the divider shaft. In one embodiment, the operationally mounted divider wall is vertically oriented and the pusher member extends horizontally therefrom so that displayed merchandise resets directly on the shelf surface but is automatically urged forwardly by the retracted pusher member. In another embodiment, the track provides the supporting surface for displayed merchandise and a vertical divider wall is integrally formed with the track.
Albright, U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,414, discloses an imposed shelf arrangement for vending tubular products such as cans and the like comprising a tray having a base, a rear panel and a pair of side panels or dividers forming a longitudinally disposed product feed trough having a width equal substantially to twice the length of a tubular product; a helix disposed centrally within the feed trough and adapted to receive a plurality of tubular products between the convolutions thereof in a staggered relationship whereby the inner end of each tubular product is adapted to be disposed along the longitudinal axis of the trough; and a drive unit at the rear of the base for rotating the helix whereby to advance the tubular products one by one to the front edge of the base to drop to a delivery position.
Goldring, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,085, discloses an adjustable tilt construction for a display rack. The rear wall of the rack is provided with one or more T slots, each slot receiving one of the two parallel flanges of a respective leg, the latter generally H shaped in transverse cross section over at least a portion of its length. One flange of each leg is shorter than the other, and is asymmetrically located with respect to it so as to yield two different distances from the ends of the shorter flange to respective ends of the longer flange. This leg configuration permits three different leg heights by inserting each leg into a respective slot in three different ways. In turn, this permits three different tilt angles for the display rack. The leg and slot configuration may also be used on a table to provide height adjustment, the legs and slots operating in the same manner as in the display rack.
Goldring, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,370, discloses an adjustable tilt construction for a toothbrush display rack. The rear wall of the rack is provided with one or more T slots, each slot receiving one of two parallel flanges of a respective leg, said leg being generally H shaped in transverse cross section over at least a portion of its length. One flange of each leg is shorter than the other, and is asymmetrically located with respect to it so as to yield two different distances from the ends of the shorter flange to respective ends of the longer flange. This leg configuration permits three different leg heights by inserting each leg into a respective slot in three different ways. In turn, this permits three different tilt angles for the display rack. Each leg has at least one end having biased edges which releasably frictionally fit into the T shaped slots on the rear wall of the rack. The leg and slot configuration may also be used on any member to provide height adjustment.
Felton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,928, discloses a merchandise display rack that has compartments for displaying products. Each such compartment has a rear panel, a front panel and a follower with a first panel portion mounted for movement toward the front panel when a product is removed from the compartment. The first panel portion and the front panel substantially abut one another when the compartment is emptied of products and the first panel portion and the rear panel substantially abut one another when the compartment is filled with products. The follower is guided along the bottom panel by a guide member which extends from the follower into a slot in the bottom panel. Such guide member has a mechanism for modifying its width to compensate for slot/guide member wear. Vertically adjacent compartments are staggered so that substantially the entirety of at least the lower compartment is readily visible.
Rabas, U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,281, discloses a product display system which includes a basic unit including a track, a front wall, a back wall and a side member. The basic unit is easily assembled and disassembled. Two or more basic units can be ganged together to created customized displays to accommodate a wide varies of products of various sizes.
Hardy, U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,720, discloses a system for organizing and displaying items on a gondola shelf system comprising a gondola shelf connected to at least one vertical upright, the shelf including a front and a rear portion, a rail extending along and affixed to the front portion of the shelf, the rail comprising, a rail shelf surface extending longitudinally along the front portion of the shelf, the rail shelf surface including a first tongue extending from the rail shelf surface; a rail groove surface extending substantially perpendicular from the rail shelf surface, the rail groove surface including a first groove extending along the groove surface; and a display apparatus slidably engaged with the front rail, the display apparatus comprising a second tongue and a second groove, the first tongue engaging the first groove and the second tongue engaging the second groove.
Nagel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,906, discloses an adjustable width product display system that is comprised of a wire rack for supporting display products. At each end of the rack is a molded plastic base member having an upwardly opening recess for the reception of a cross bar element of the product support rack. Each base element is also provided with a pair of downwardly opening grooves of partially circular cross section, for the adjustable reception of transverse base elements of wire side supports. The side supports can be adjustably positioned to accommodate display product of various width. In many cases, a spring driven pusher sled may be provided on the display rack, and the base members are formed with one or more slots for the reception and anchoring of the free end of one or more pusher springs for driving the sled. The plastic base members are designed to accommodate vertical snap-in assembly of the rack and side supports into their respective grooves, to facilitate assembly. The base members are easily modified to include tongue-like extensions, enabling base members to be snapped onto guide strips provided at the front of display shelving, and also to be supported between front and back support rails, for example in a freezer display environment.
Caterinacci, U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,071, discloses a merchandise display device for dispensing and displaying digital media cases. Digital media cases are inserted vertically into the opening between the front panel and the lateral supports. This opening limits the number of cases which can be removed and/or inserted at one time. The width of the opening allows only two cases to be inserted or removed at a time, to deter theft. The opening, however, still allows for easy access when removing or inserting the cases. A replaceable pusher is attached to the back wall of the unit to bias the digital media cases toward the front panel. The display units are broken into two separate components, a right and left side. The components allow for flexibility in arranging the display system, depending on the need of the vendor. The invention provides a storage display system which continuously maintains the organized orientation of digital media cases, displays the covers of these cases, permits easy access and use of the stored objects and allows for flexibility so that the storage units are easy to install, reconfigure, and remove.
Thalenfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,552, discloses a product pusher device comprising an elongated guide track and a pusher sled slidably guided along the track for urging product packages forward on a display shelf. The pusher sled incorporates a housing for containing a coiled strip spring element. The end extremity of the spring is anchored at the forward end of the guide track, and the coiled body spring is confined within the housing at the back of the sled. By constructing the sled housing with an open bottom, assembly is greatly facilitated by allowing the spring to be anchored on the guide track independently of the sled and thereafter allowing the sled to be lowered over the coiled body of the spring and pressed downward to be snapped into assembled position on the guide track.
Hardy, WO02091885, discloses an integrated “T” assembly (500) combined into a single integrated assembly, a track portion along both sides of a divider. The T assembly may have a wide-base portion, which may include a spring-urged-pusher track, on one side of the divider and a narrow-base portion on the opposite side of the divider. An offset pusher may have an upper portion that is offset, via an angled offset portion, from a lower portion of the pusher. Additional supporting bases, any of which may include spring-urged-pusher tracks and/or a spring-urged pusher, may be used under a wide product. Left and right side finisher components may be paired with T assemblies near the sides of a merchandise-display shelf. The T assembly, base, and/or end finishers may be coupled to a front rail via a complimentary tongue and groove arrangement and/or a non-slidable engagement, such as mating teeth.